CIPP quick poll on Gender Pay Gap reporting
11 May 2016
Regulations are due to come into force in October 2016 which will require private and voluntary sector employers in England, Scotland and Wales with at least 250 employees, to submit gender pay gap reports annually.
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To help us understand awareness and readiness, please take a moment to complete our CIPP Poll on our home page (bottom right) which asks: If gender pay gap reporting applies to you (250+ employees) will you be ready for reporting requirements from October 2016? |
Background
Draft regulations were published for consultation in February 2016. Responses are currently being analysed by the Government Equalities Office (GEO).
Commencement and scope
Subject to the approval of Parliament, the regulations will come into force on the earliest relevant common commencement date (1 October 2016), although employers will not be expected to publish the required information immediately. Employers with 250 or more relevant employees will fall within scope of the regulations. A relevant employee means someone who ordinarily works in Great Britain and whose contract is governed by UK legislation.
Defining Pay
To ensure comparability with national gender pay gap figures, GEO has been consistent with the definition of pay used by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) for the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE). As such “pay” includes basic pay, paid leave, maternity pay, sick pay, area allowances, shift premium pay, bonus pay and other pay (including car allowances paid through the payroll, on call and standby allowances, clothing, first aider or fire warden allowances). It does not include overtime pay, expenses, the value of salary sacrifice schemes, benefits in kind, redundancy pay, arrears of pay and tax credits.
Publication timetable
Employers may need to introduce new systems or processes to analyse their gender pay gaps. To ensure that employers have sufficient lead in time, they will have about 18 months after commencement to publish the required information for the first time and must then publish annually thereafter.